Mobile network operators utilize Alternative Access Vendors (AAVs) to extend their network to areas that the operators' networks do not cover. An AAV provides a wide area networking network interface (e.g., a user network interface, or “UNI”) and provides a virtual circuit between the mobile cellular location and the carrier's core network. The networking interface may be Carrier Ethernet, Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS), Frame Relay, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), or other interface type that supports virtual circuits or virtual channels (VC).
A VC is provisioned with a committed data rate (CDR), also called a committed information rate (CIR), which is specified in a service level agreement (SLA). A peak information rate (PIR) is the maximum burst speed allowed on the VC, with packets that exceed the CIR up to the PIR being “best effort” and therefore non-guaranteed. The carrier and the AAV typically employ policers at the UNI handoff to monitor and shape throughput to conform to the CIR and/or PIR.
IEEE 802.1ad is a standard commonly known as Q-in-Q tunneling; in this technique, an outer Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tag for a first network and an inner VLAN tag for a second network are added to an Ethernet frame. In a typical network backhaul or other transport arrangement with carrier Ethernet, the outer VLAN tag enables the carrier Ethernet switch to separate one customer's traffic from another customer's traffic, even if both customers utilize the same inner VLAN tags for use in their respective networks.